Witty Wife, Better Life

Chapter 128: Chapter 122 Another Bountiful Harvest

August brought the harvest season, and Shen Yunfang was busy once again, just like the previous year. _{𝔫𝔬𝖛𝖕𝔲𝖇.𝖈𝖔𝖒}

First, she picked all the mature vegetables from her backyard. She sun-dried a portion of the less attractive ones to use for stews in winter. The dried vegetables had a different taste from the fresh ones, offering a unique flavor.

She also picked dozens of the tenderest ears of corn and stored them in her space. Last winter, she would occasionally take some out to either boil or roast; they were so fragrant. That’s why she picked even more this year.

Next, she buried the wine she had made in a pit. Ever since she learned how to brew wine two years ago, she’d make a jar every month and bury it in the backyard. Now, after more than a year, she must have nearly twenty jars of wine buried there. If she kept this up, she would run out of places to bury them.

She hadn’t forgotten about the wild fruits in the mountains either. This year she had learned to climb trees, so she had her sights set on the round jujube tree. All summer, she had picked at least twenty to thirty pounds. Round jujubes were like mini kiwis, tart and sweet and very delicious.

Then there were the mountain grapes. She had planted quite a few cuttings last year, and this year that small patch had grown considerably. She picked the ripe ones and, seeing the abundance, she used two stands to make jugs of grape juice, which of course used up a lot of sugar.

Another delight was the significant yield of pine nuts. Pine nuts don’t have a good harvest every year; you usually get a large yield every five years and a small yield every three. Luckily, this year happened to be a large yield. Even without climbing the trees to shake them down, there were far more falling to the ground than last year. Shen Yunfang didn’t hesitate to pick them up; by the end, she had saved a considerable quantity in her space.

What pleased her most was the harvest on the hillside.

Starting with the pigs, the first eight she had bought were all butchered and stored in her space. The pigs bought later were being raised diligently; the largest was already over a hundred pounds. She believed that by the time the first snow fell on the mountains, all these pigs would be ready for slaughter.

Then there were the sheep. She started with only one but had bought three ewes and seven rams. Now, it was confirmed that all three ewes were pregnant. As for the rams, Yunfang planned to butcher them after the snow fall, intending next year to raise lambs instead. It was not cost-effective to keep the sheep for too long; a sheep reaching ninety pounds this year might only gain ten more the next, so it was better to butcher them and start anew next year.

Next came the crops in the fields, which were larger than the family’s private land and backyard combined. One could imagine how substantial the harvest was this year.

The fertility of the land was high, and Yunfang had put in a lot of effort. The sunflowers on the outer edges were all over two meters tall, with heads bigger than washbasins.

Yunfang harvested soybeans, corn, sweet potatoes, peanuts, carrots, and sunflower seeds as well as the remaining watermelons and cantaloupes.

After all these efforts, it was now mid-October.

The village’s autumn harvest had also passed. Following tradition, after the grain distribution, she thought of a way to slaughter and sell her two pigs. Of course, she could not use the same method as last year, or else the villagers might become suspicious, wondering why only her pigs got sick. So this time, she put on a show with Dashuan and his wife to make everyone believe that she sold the pigs to the supply and marketing cooperative in the city, which was far from Gaijiatun. Even if someone became suspicious, the distance would deter them from checking; moreover, selling pork did not require any registration, so no one could find any fault.

Just like that, this year, just from the two pigs visibly raised at her home, she made nearly three hundred yuan—an exorbitant profit. Of course, Yunfang’s year of great harvest was just beginning. She still had a large number of eggs, vegetables, and mushrooms in her space, waiting for an opportunity to sell them.

"Xiaojuan, tell Auntie, do the fried quails taste good?" Yunfang sat on the kang bed, greasy hands grasping a fried quail.

Next to her, Xiaojuan mimicked her actions, greasy-handed and just as joyfully munching along with her carefree Aunt Yunfang.

"Mm, delicious," Xiaojuan nodded firmly. In her young heart, she had already understood that following Aunt Yunfang guaranteed delicious treats.

"Ah..."

Dashuan’s wife sat next to him, holding a baby in her arms. The baby eyed the food that the others were enjoying and reached out for it like a quail, while stuffily shoving the other fist into its little mouth, occasionally making "ah ah" sounds to draw attention.

Dashuan’s wife gently smacked her son on the bottom, then couldn’t bear but to tear off a tiny strip of meat from the fried quail she held and put it into his mouth for him to suckle. Yet her hand didn’t dare to let go, for a child only half a year old shouldn’t be eating such things.

"Oh, here’s another little glutton. Baby, grow quickly. Once all your teeth are in, Aunt Yunfang will fry some quails for you too," Shen Yunfang said teasingly, sharing her food with the children.

"You never do anything right, do you? Those quails were laying eggs just fine; why did you have to kill them?" Dashuan’s wife couldn’t help but retort, mainly because she felt sorry for the quails.

Ever since Shen Yunfang brought the quails from outside at the beginning of the year, they had been in a constant cycle of laying and hatching eggs. Over the past few months, the number of quails at both households had increased sharply, with each having over a hundred and ten.

But now, Shen Yunfang’s household was down to a hundred; those extra ten-plus quails were all on the table.

"These are from the earliest batch. Quails don’t live long. They only lay eggs for one year, and even if I didn’t kill them, they would stop laying in a few days," Shen Yunfang said, gnawing on a bone.

At this, Dashuan’s wife lost her appetite. "What do you mean they won’t lay eggs anymore? We only started raising them a few days ago." She found it hard to accept, knowing that chickens could lay eggs for three to four years.

So Yunfang enlightened Dashuan’s wife about the basics of quail breeding as she continued to nibble on the quail.

"That’s why I say quails have a limited lifespan. Even if I didn’t cull them, they would have to be phased out. This way, after they are done laying, I fry them and the meat is delicious, getting the highest use value," Shen Yunfang justified her gluttony.

"That’s still too soon. Didn’t you say they could lay eggs for a year? It’s only been seven months." Dashuan’s wife began counting on her fingers.

"Seven months is almost up, and the peak laying period is already over," Yunfang said as she finished one quail and quickly grabbed another. "Let’s not talk about that now. Sister-in-law, tell me, how’s the taste of this quail?"

"Do I even need to say? It’s meat, after all. Plus, you used so much good oil to fry it, how could it not taste good?" Dashuan’s wife muttered, and reminded of the taste, she began to eat the quail in her hand.

"Heh, that’s why I say the economic value of quail is high; they hatch quickly, lay eggs quickly, and the meat is so tasty when they can no longer lay," Yunfang thought to herself, the quail being more promising than sparrows and easy to raise. She should expand the breeding efforts next year.

"Yeah, I feel the same way, which is why these past few days I haven’t let Xiaojuan eat any. I incubated all the quail eggs we saved up, and we’ve even set up a plastic shed at home, so we can keep raising them in the winter," Dashuan’s wife said, brimming with joy.

The incubation was always Dashuan’s wife’s responsibility, and whatever the number of hatchlings, they would split it evenly between the two households.

"Here’s to a successful collaboration," Yunfang said as she extended her oily hand toward Dashuan’s wife, offering a friendly handshake.

"Get out of here with that nonsense," Dashuan’s wife declined the gesture teasingly.

"Ha, if you don’t want to, I’ll ask the little baby. Come on, give Aunt Yunfang some face. Let’s shake hands," she proposed with a smile.